"'Chemicals of Concern' List Still Wrapped In OMB Red Tape"

"It has been three years since the 'chemicals of concern' list landed at the White House Office of Management and Budget. The list, which the Environmental Protection Agency wants to put out for public comment, includes bisphenol A, a chemical used in polycarbonate plastic water bottles and other products; eight phthalates, which are used in flexible plastics; and certain flame-retardant compounds called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs.

The EPA wants to highlight these chemicals because 'they may present an unreasonable risk to human health and/or the environment,' the agency says.

But any such listing must first be vetted by the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OIRA.

The EPA proposal arrived at OIRA on May 12, 2010. There it remains – a symbol, some say, of a broken regulatory system."